Wed Oct 15, 2008 — by Robert Greenberger

Swedish Director Changes his Tune

Remake of 'Let the Right One in' now Seems Okay

Swedish director Tomas Alfredson, in America promoting the release of his acclaimed Let the Right One in, seems to have softened his stance against an English-language remake. As we reported last week, he was critical of the need to reinterpret his efforts.  Now, he told Sci Fi Wire that it’s okay for Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) to try his hand at adapting the novel his movie was also based on.

"Who knows? Maybe he sees something different in the source material," Alfredson said. "Maybe he will come up with something different. I don't know. I am not involved with that, and I wish them well."

The “them” includes producer J.J. Abrams who actually purchased the rights to John Ajvide Lindqvist’s novel although it will be made under the Hammer Films banner.

The novel concentrates on the relationship between an adolescent boy and a vampire.  The director reflected on the world’s fascination with the genre. "It is a 360-page book, and there are a lot of subplots and characters that we had to take out," Alfredson said. "I decided to follow the love story. I fell in love with that part of the story.

"It seems like they come and go every 20 years, but, honestly, I cannot remember seeing a vampire movie," he said. "I think I did as a kid, see something with Bela Lugosi, but I never read Dracula. ... I think that it has to do with the animals inside of us. They are very much an archetype. We have suppressed the animal part of ourselves, and maybe it's a reaction to that, I don't know." 
 

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